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New Leeds mosque proposal gets go-ahead
A PLAN to build a three-storey mosque on the site of an old clothing factory has won the backing of Leeds councillors – even though planning officers recommended it should be turned down.
Planning officers recommended the proposal for the building in Woodview Road, Beeston, should be rejected but members of the east plans panel opted to give it their support.
The councillors decided the development would remove an eyesore and benefit the community.
The new mosque will include halls, committee rooms, offices, storage rooms and a small car park.
It will replace a small mosque in nearby Stratford Street which the panel heard the community had now outgrown.
A report to the panel said the original plan showed a building with a 17m dome and a minaret stretching to 23m in height.
The scheme had been revised with the proposed dome now much smaller and six metres taken off the height of the minaret.
Despite the changes, council officials argued the building was still unacceptable.
The report said it would be overly dominant, visually intrusive and clearly visible from Dewsbury Road.
"The slope of the land will further emphasise the scale of the building," the report added.
There were also concerns that the development included only a small number of parking spaces and could cause parking problems and congestion in the surrounding streets of terrace and back-to back homes.
Zafran Razaq, of the Muslim Association of Leeds, said the new mosque would help regenerate the area.
He pointed out that other community facilities in Beeston had no off-street parking but caused no problems.
He said the mosque would serve the local community and many people would walk to prayers.
The report to the panel said there had been no objections to the scheme and it was supported by the councillors for City and Hunslet ward, in which the site stands.
Coun David Congreve (Lab, Beeston and Holbeck) said: "I am pleased the applicants have reduced the scale of the building and it now sits far better on the site.
"Only on odd occasions will it be used to full capacity.
"There are benefits in that it tidies up a site that has been a mess for many years."
Councillors will formally approve the scheme at the panel's next meeting when a list of conditions to be attached to a planning consent will be presented to them.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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